Madeline and I took our first trip outside of KL together last weekend when we went to Penang in the north of peninsular Malaysia. It was a short hour flight on the local low cost carrier, Air Asia. And we only took backpacks so we didn’t need to fuss with baggage claim upon arrival.
I had some trepidation about traveling without Joe since he arranges most of the hotels and taxis, pays bills, negotiates new places, and arranges many of our daily activities when we are on vacation. But Madeline and I negotiated the airports, taxis, bills, neighborhoods, and activities like pros.
It was great to have only two agendas to manage and to enjoy some nice girl time. My Penang agenda consisted of visiting the huge Kek Lok Si temple and statue of Kuan Yin and most of the surrounding temples on day one. On day two, we went to the Hindu Thaipusam celebrations going on near the Waterfall temple in the Botanical Gardens, had food and drink, and took lots of pictures. In between these big events, we bought some clothes and nail polish, polished our nails, did some yoga on the floor of our room, and watched some fun t.v. shows including Glee, Bunheads, New Girl, and How I Met Your Mother. All in all, a great weekend!
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you can buy wishing ribbons to hang on stick trees
at the Kek Lok Si (Goddess of Mercy Temple) |
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| Steph in front of cool wall |
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| hawker stall mango juices in plastic bags |
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| Chong Tian Heritage Hotel-our residence |
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| decorations around Kek Lok Si, largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia |
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| coconuts for throwing onto the street to cleanse it for the Hindu parade (starring Lord Subramanium/Murugan) |
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| Kek Lok Si |
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| Madeline walking around temples |
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| some of the 1000 Kuan Yin statues at Kek Lok Si |
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| Kek Lok Si surroundings |
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| worker sitting on rooftop doing repairs |
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| vibrantly colored decorations |
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| so much color! |
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| even the temples have to be kept clean |
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| praying with incense |
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| containers for prayer incense |
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| ribbons with wishes for the wishing tree |
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| temple candles |
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| the largest Kuan Yin here at 30.2 meters tall |
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| funicular up to Kuan Yin |
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| another face of Kuan Yin |
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| view of Penang from top of Kek Lok Si temple |
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| eating some complementary porridge at Kek Lok Si |
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| prayer incense |
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| with my Chinese Zodiac sign, the harehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac |
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| Madeline with her Chinese Zodiac, the Oxhttp://fengshui.about.com/od/fengshuigoodluckcures/qt/Chinese-Zodiac-Signs-Feng-Shui-Good-Luck.htm |
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| you can find beggars everywhere, even at the temples... |
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| hawker stall where all kinds of delicious juices are made |
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| temple roof tiles |
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| juices from hawker stalls-watermelon, nutmeg-sour plum (ick!), and mango |
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| hawker stall dinner: corn, apple crumble, red bean donut, and stir fry inside the newspaper cones |
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| free vegetarian Indian food offered in numerous places around the Thaipusam celebrations |
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| 2 sisters dressed up for Thaipusam |
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| meal time at Thaipusam |
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| huge amounts of free vegetarian Indian food |
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| you caught me eating without utensils like all the Indians do.... |
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kavadi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavadi |
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| resting on a long, hot day of celebrations |
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thousands of people, both foreigners and Indians walk
the long path to the Waterfall Temple for Thaipusam |
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| more kavadi |
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| everyone is dressed in their finest |
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| Indian God Ganesha being honored |
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| I imagine there must be amazing stories of penance with some of the kavadi |
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| welcome refreshment stands on this long, hot, crowded, noisy day |
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| kavadi |
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| sweet! |
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| tent decorations for Thaipusam |
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| Indian leggings? ; ) |
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| loved the colors! |
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| kavadi with shells |
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| amazing! |
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individuals practicing kavadi are said
to be in a trance and don't feel the pain?! |
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| ice on a hot day |
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| another god being honored |
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| trying to stay out of the hot sun |
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| street scene in Georgetown, Penang |
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| cool, street side facade |
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| some of our neighborhood stores in Georgetown |
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Chinese New Year cakes-Nien Kao
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nian_gao |
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| I love seeing the things people carry on the backs of their motorcycles! |
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| empty hawker stall |
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| street scene-businesses on bottom, living quarters on top |
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tuk-tuk- not nearly as decorative
at the ones in Melacca or Thailand |
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| our first waffle in Malaysia-yum!!! |
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| decorative baskets for anything |
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| front lobby of our Heritage Hotel in Georgetown, Penang |
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| Ganesha |
oh, my goodness, you have captured images that leave me craving to visit and see for myself! you have a wonderful eye for color and detail that draws such interest. thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletethanks, I'm sure enjoying photographing all the visual details that are different in this part of the world ; )
DeleteLoved reading about your weekend with Madeline and seeing your pictures. You take interesting beautiful pictures. Looks like you are having such a wonderful year. Miss you!
ReplyDeleteglad you're able to share a little piece of what I am experiencing over here ; )
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